I was reading this excellent post by Carrie (which I discovered via Twitter) and it got me thinking about how I use Twitter itself. If you are a New Zealand Twitter user you have probably bumped into someone using the word Twitterati. This is usually used as a insult, often in conjunction with equally prejorative phrases like ‘hive mind’ etc. Now while the Twitterati don’t exist (it’s pretty much just a group of friends acting like friends) there certainly are subgroups of NZ Twitter out there.
One of my favourite of these is what I am calling Pae Tīhau Māori, or the Māori twitterverse. I think a major characteristic of it is whanaungatanga (this is how I got to here from Carrie’s post). A lot of what I see is awhi, and whakawhanaungatanga. People helping and encouraging each other, and people making connections with each other.
One recent example of this whakawhanautanga happened with me just last week. While I was in India, reading twitter over breakfast, I noticed this Twitter exchange with my Dad.
@kiwitoa Kia ora Mr Cormack Ko Phoebe Davis tenei
— Phoebe Davis (@rukuwai) February 20, 2017
@kiwitoa Ae pono marika, e hoki ngā mahara ki ngā kuia o Waitangi a Nanny Ada mā. Ko te tūmanako kua ora mutunga te whānau xx
— Phoebe Davis (@rukuwai) February 20, 2017
Now this jogged my memory, Nanny Ada Davis fed me my first solid meal (which I don’t remember) but I remember being told, and I remembered the photos of me with her. So I posted.
@rukuwai @kiwitoa pic.twitter.com/uUeZFyhiuf
— Chris Cormack (@ranginui) February 20, 2017
Which after this
@ranginui @kiwitoa He kanohi kitea, he hoki ngā mahara. Kia ora @ranginui
— Phoebe Davis (@rukuwai) February 20, 2017
And a few more tweets lead to me emailing Phoebe a bunch of photos, for her to share with her whānau. Connections had been reestablished.
Then there are things like this
@dimsie that makes you my whānaunga, kia ora cuz
— Chris Cormack (@ranginui) March 30, 2016
And many many more (please hit me up with any examples you like if you wish). In general and with very few exceptions, I see Māori on twitter helping, uplifting, and connecting with each other. There are discussions, but I am struggling to think of one that wasn’t done out of a genuine desire to learn/discuss, rather than to attack. I am sure there are some acrimonious ones, but I am happy to hang out in my ‘bubble’ it’s a much nicer place to hang out than lots of the internet. Long may it continue. Mauri ora tātou
